What is Your Hearts Posture

The Significance of Body Language

I love random facts. I’m just a huge nerd for seemingly useless information. That might have something to do with undiagnosed ADHD, I’m not sure.

One of my favorite pieces of fairly useless information is about the significance of body language. More specifically, how much we communicate with each other without having to “say” anything.

You might know this but only 7% of what we communicate comes from the words that we say. Verbal communication only makes up 7% of what we communicate!

That means that 93% comes from our inflection and our body language! Thats absolutely wild to me! To add to that, most of that non-verbal communication is done unconsciously. We don’t even realize what were doing with our bodies while were doing it!

The human face as 43 muscles in it and using them you can form up to 10,000 different facial expressions!

If you’re like me, you’re going to spend the rest of this sermon, trying to make as many of those expressions as you can.

We’re going to be looking at a story today about a man who seemingly had all of the correct posture and ambitions but Jesus, as he does, sees directly into his heart.

If you have your Bibles were going to be in Mark 10:17-22

Mark 10:17–22 (CSB)

As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not defraud; honor your father and mother.”

He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these from my youth.”

Looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, “You lack one thing: Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” But he was dismayed by this demand, and he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.

Remember where we are in the book of Mark. Jesus is transitioning away from his public ministry and is focusing on teaching truths to His disciples. He has been on a journey to Jerusalem for the last several chapters.

Last week John shared about Jesus welcoming children and to encourage his followers to have a child-like faith or trust in who he is. In this story we just read, we have a man coming to him who is seemingly on the other end of that spectrum.

Let’s look again at the beginning of this passage.

Mark 10:17 (CSB)

As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

We learn from context clues and other gospels that this man is a well off ruler. We can, again, from context conclude that this man was Jewish because a greek would not refer to Jesus as “Good Teacher”.

With that info, its a safe bet to make that he would have been fairly high up in the synagogue. A religious leader of sorts.

Notice also the posture of this man. He is running to Jesus and falling on his knees. It doesn't take a lot of time spent studying this interaction to say, at least on the outside, this man has respect for who Jesus is and a knowledge that He has the answers. Thats at least what we can sus out from our limited knowledge of his outward appearance.

I love Jesus response right off the bat. He sees exactly whats going on in this mans heart and makes an effort to point that out to the ruler.

Mark 10:18 (CSB)

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone.

He points directly to the father. He asks “Why would you call me “good”? Good only comes from the Father.

I believe that this is a course correction that Jesus is making for this man.

Jesus can see this mans heart right away. We as humans only have the outward appearance to go off of but Jesus can see right through this and what he sees is a lot of posturing. He’s acting the right way, seemingly asking the right questions, but Jesus knows immediately what is going on inside this man. He doesn't evangelize how we might expect Him to.

This ruler is far younger than anyone else in his position.Most rulers in the synagoge were much older. They had worked hard for a long time to gain that position. I would imagine he would have worked VERY hard to achieve that level of respect and power at that young of an age. There is a part of him that believes that he is truly “good” because he has earned it.

But Jesus reminds him that the only “good” that we have in our lives comes from the Father.

Psalm 14:2–3 (CSB)

The Lord looks down from heaven on the human race

to see if there is one who is wise,

one who seeks God.

All have turned away;

all alike have become corrupt.

There is no one who does good,

not even one.

There is not one good person on this earth and there never has been. I hate to break that to you if you’ve been thinking your a good guy/gal. We are all sinners in need of a savior. Thats why we need Jesus so desperately.

Jesus came for those who have come to the realization that they aren't good and they need someone who is to save them.

This man thought Jesus was looking for another “good” guy to join the team. He hadn't come to terms with the fact that only God is good.

Mark 10:19–20 (CSB)

You know the commandments: Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not defraud; honor your father and mother.”

He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these from my youth.”

What a cocky, self-confident little liar this guy is.

Jesus names the commandments that this man needs to follow and with all the self assuredness he can muster, he says “Oh yea, those? I’ve kept them since i was a kid.”

Jesus knew that this was a lie and again was attempting to shift the conversation to something looking like repentance from this man. Jesus knows that there is no possible way that this man has kept all of these commandments. If we read though the list, the commandments that Jesus names are only the last half of the 10 commandments. These ones are seemingly the easier commandments to follow. They dealt with how people treat other people. Jesus didn't even touch the first half. All of which deal with mans relationship with God.

If we look at what Jesus said about the law in his sermon on the mount, we know that he doubles down on these commands. Even if you have anger in your heart towards your brother, you have committed murder as far as He is concerned.

The point of the law is that there is no way that a man can keep these on his own. Its intended to point out our faults, flaws and sinful nature and direct us to the only source of salvation.

James 2:10 (CSB)

For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all.

Breaking the commandments is like punching a window. You don’t shatter part of the pane. The entire thing is ruined

So for this man to say that he has kept these from childhood is a bold faced lie straight to the face of God incarnate.

Now I don’t necessarily think that this man truly thought he hadn't sinned in his entire life. I think he was thinking that he had kept the law a lot better than those around him. He’s thinking, I’m pretty solid. At least I’m not breaking it like other people.

But before we judge this man, think about the lesson that is trying to be taught to him. Jesus has pointed out multiple times already the needs of this mans heart and yet his posture remains the same. He doesn't back down. He is convinced that he is right and just in his attitudes and life he has lived. After all, look at where he has gotten because of “his” hard work and intellect.

How often are we in this same position with God. How many times have you sat in your chair during a sermon and thought “Oh, this ones not for me. I’ve got this sin whipped.” and then tune out because you feel like you’ve “made it”. I know that I’ve had those thoughts before! I’m being honest with you.

Jesus has twice now, tried to teach this man what his heart is missing but he refuses to see it. So what he does at the end of this interaction is so clearly an obvious attempt to get this man to understand what he needs to change.

Mark 10:21–22 (CSB)

Looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, “You lack one thing: Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” But he was dismayed by this demand, and he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.

What I love about this response from Jesus is that it comes from a place of love. He looks him in the eye with love and lays out what this man needs to hear.

This word “Looks” in the original greek I think is so much more powerful than what we get in this passage though.

The word is Emblepo and it means “to look at intently”.

I remember when Eloise ,our oldest, was still just a little baby. If she would get fussy in her carseat, I knew that if I just gently rested my hand on her chest, that would calm her down. I knew her so well, even as a baby, because I loved her. I could just sense it.

I also remember being a boy at a thanksgiving with family and looking at the back of my brothers head, thinking about flicking an ear or doing something else to him and my own fathers voice from behind me coming in with a stern “Dont”. Because he knew my heart. To this day, im still amazed that he could read my mind like that. Being a father myself, I see that it probably wasnt to difficult for him to see that I was planning mischief.

Jesus looks this man, with love, and tells him exactly what he knew he would struggle with the most. Now because Jesus knows this mans heart, he is able to call out this sin so specifically but if someone came to me and asked what it takes to gain eternal life, I’m certainly not going to tell them to head to the bank, empty out their savings and give it out to the church.

Thats not the point of this passage and thats not the way to gain eternal life. But Jesus knew exactly what what plaguing this man.

Jesus studies this mans heart. He looks deep within him and finds what it is this man is holding onto so tightly.

Here Jesus is addressing the first commandment. He comes back to them. That first commandment is that you should have no other gods before Me. This man had something that he held closer than God and it was his wealth. He felt safe and sound with that money. It gave him status and besides, he worked SO hard to gain it right? It was his. Why should he give it up.

From the very outset of this passage. This man has been holding on to the things that he has done and accomplished, the wealth that he has gained, the position that he has acquired to define his worth. His posture is that of self reliance.

I’ve built this life, I made away for myself. I. Am. Good.

This is the only story of someone coming to Jesus with a seemingly repentant spirit and left in worse shape than when they came. Its because it wasn’t genuine and he wasn’t willing to repent. He was the only person in the scriptures who kneels before Jesus and leaves in worse shape than when he came.

Remember the story of Zacheaus? This tax collector was living in sin and Jesus invites Himself over for dinner, You can do that if your Gods son, and over the course of a meal this mans heart completely changes!

Without prompting from Jesus, Zacheaus says I’ll take half of what I own and give it away and if there is anyone that I have cheated, I’ll pay them back 4 times what I cheated out of them. If he was a good tax collector, that would have been a hefty amount of reparations.

Why are these stories so different? Why does Zacheaus choose to give his money away while this ruler of the synagoge walk away dejected? Its easy to see. It was posture. Zacheaus knew he was wrong for what he did and he gained no satisfaction from treating others poorly. He believed who Jesus was and who he wasn’t and had a monumental change of heart.

We’ve started watching Christmas movies early in the Lilley Household. Anyone else guilty? Its ok. One of our favorites is A Christmas Carol. I’m partial to the Muppet version. But in each telling, 3 ghosts visit Scrooge and show him what his life could be if he didn't place such a value on money. How much more full his last years on earth would be if he just reoriented to focusing on people. How much more powerful is the Holy spirit than these three made up ghosts.

You need to realize where you stand in position with God. There is no good thing except him. There is nothing worth holding closer than Him. You need to realize that everything good in your life is a gift from Him.

In south India, monkeys are a much bigger problem than they are here. The people there have devised an ingenious way of trapping them without injuring them so that they can be transported away from the town.

They take a coconut and cut a small hole and hollow out the center. They then place a piece of banana or a nut inside and then tie the other end of the coconut to a tree. The monkey comes along and reaches his hand in to get the tasty treat. When his hand is wrapped around whatever he wants inside, he cant pull his closed fist back out. And this silly, dumb, greedy monkey will hold onto that little treat that he worked so hard for even while the villagers are loading him up into the back of the monkey moving truck.

We have a tendency, myself included to hold onto what we’ve done or what we have SO tightly. Just a death grip on “our accomplishments”. What if we changed our posture. What if we realized that the job that we have, the money that we have stored up, the security that has been granted to us are just on loan from God the Father. They aren’t ours to keep but instead to bless others with?

We start to loosen those fingers, one by one until everything we have is held in an open palm. And we take that open palm holding everything He has blessed us with and we offer it up as a sacrifice to him?

I want to end with a quote I found from Oswald Chambers that I think sums up this idea of posture quite well.

“Have you ever realized that you can give things to God that are of value to Him? Or are you just sitting around daydreaming about the greatness of His redemption, while neglecting all the things you could be doing for Him? I'm not referring to works which could be regarded as divine and miraculous, but ordinary, simple human things - things which would be evidence to God that you are totally surrendered to Him.”